In the prior art, delay lines of the kind having localized or distributed time constants have been frequently used to derive sub-clock signals. This structure has a number of disadvantages however, and in particular requires the design or operating engineer to adjust the lengths of the delay lines in order to achieve the required time displacement between adjacent pulses of the sub-clock signals. Another difficulty is that the delay lines are sensitive to load variations which cause mismatches between the line and the load, in turn causing sub-clock pulse distortion. The pulse shape is restored by suitably adjusted electronic devices coupled to the end of each line. These problems necessarily increase the cost of developing electronic assemblies, and particularly data-processing systems where clock signals of a high standard are vital for synchronizing the data-processing operations.
Another structure to derive sub-clock signals uses ring-counters and a decoding matrix to extract the various sub-clock signals. This structure considerably reduces the adjustment problems of delay lines but it does not eliminate the necessity for adjusting the electronic devices coupled to the outputs of the decoding matrix. These problems arise from the use of a ring-counter having internal loops between the various flip-flops from which it is formed. The flip-flops cause widely varying load differences to appear from one sub-clock signal to another. Another drawback of a ring-counter is that the sub-clock signals cannot propagate beyond the various racks of circuit boards forming an electronic assembly; otherwise the clock signals would become unsynchronized.
In certain applications relating to data-processing systems it is desired to stop, i.e., freeze, the sub-clock signals at any time and in any state. This possibility obviously does not exist with systems which employ delay line arrangements for generating the sub-clock signals. Arrangements which employ ring-counters only allow the counters to be stopped in one particular state and not in any state whatever.